NX-02
by THTC no Miko
Summary: A new ship for starfleet, a new cew member for Enterprise. But who are the crew of the new ship? What's with her engineer? Some parts of this will have a slightly higher rating, but that's only a temporary thing. Please R
1. Archer has a secret

Enterprise  
  
Captain Jonathan Archer sat on one of the bio beds in Enterprise's sickbay, waiting impatiently for Dr. Phlox to finish his yearly physical. He looked around the room, staring at some of the odd cages that Phlox had brought with on board with him.  
  
"This would go a lot faster if you would sit still, captain." Phlox said, frowning.  
  
"I'm not really fond of physicals." Archer admitted.  
  
"That much is obvious by your behavior, Captain; however, I'm almost done if you'll just sit still for another minute."  
  
Archer sighed and did his best to sit still, but his efforts were interrupted by Ensign Hoshi Sato's voice coming over the comm. He immediately jumped down from the bio bed and went to answer it.  
  
"Bridge to Captain Archer."  
  
"Archer. Go ahead Hoshi."  
  
"Sir, there's a transmission from Admiral Forrest for you. He says it's important."  
  
"If you'll excuse me Doctor, I'll take it in my ready room." Phlox nodded. "I'm on my way up Hoshi."  
  
"We'll finish this later, Captain." Phlox told Archer on his way out of sickbay.  
  
"It's nice to see you again Jon."  
  
"What can I do for you Admiral?"  
  
"I'll get straight to the point. I read what happened on board the Enterprise when your Ensign Travis Mayweather was injured during shore leave on Risa. You need another doctor on board, especially seeing as Crewman Cutler couldn't handle that little thing by herself. I'd feel safer if you had another doctor to rely on if anything happens like that again."  
  
"I'd love to have another doctor, Admiral, but I can't afford to turn back to Earth and there aren't any Vulcan ships out this far. It would take a fair amount of time to catch up with us."  
  
"Not to worry, Jon. She's already on her way. You'll rendezvous with the Genesis in two days. I'll send you the coordinates momentarily."  
  
Archer looked puzzled. "The Genesis? I've never heard of a ship by that name."  
  
"I'm not surprised. She's brand-new, the NX-02, a warp 5 capable ship and our only other ship that can get to you. The Vulcans offered to take her out there, but with the Genesis's recent completion, we figured we'd test her legs, so to speak."  
  
"I'm looking forward to meeting this doctor then. Does she have a name?"  
  
"Lieutenant Commander Anne Wolffe. She comes very highly recommended. She majored in Exobiology at the academy along with a double minor in neurology and biology."  
  
"Not bad." Archer nodded.  
  
"I have high hopes for her. It's her first assignment and she's very nervous about it."  
  
"I'm sure she'll be fine."  
  
"Just be careful around the Genesis crew though. They're a bit odd, but her captain is a decent sort."  
  
"I'll keep that in mind."  
  
"Forrest out."  
  
Archer leaned back in his chair, thinking. A new ship? That was interesting news. He knew that his Chief Engineer, Commander Charles Tucker, would want to have a look at her engines, but he kept turning Admiral Forrest's warning about the oddity of the crew in his head. Why the need for the warning?  
  
Well, they'd figure that out when they rendezvoused with the Genesis in two days. He looked at the coordinates that he'd been sent and went out onto the bridge.  
  
"Travis set a new course. We're rendezvousing with a ship called the Genesis in two days. Warp 4.5."  
  
Ensign Mayweather looked back at the Captain for a second before setting the new course. "Aye sir. Course plotted."  
  
Subcommander T'pol looked up from her station and raised an eyebrow. "May I ask why we are rendezvousing with that ship? It is not in the database."  
  
"You'll find that out in two days, T'pol. It's a bit of a surprise."  
  
"I'll bet that she doesn't think much of surprises." Lieutenant Malcolm Reed spoke up from his station just as Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker walked onto the bridge.  
  
"Surprises are illogical."  
  
Reed snorted and turned back to his console.  
  
"Did I miss something here?" Trip asked, looking back and forth between T'pol and Reed.  
  
"Not really. Just tweaking the Vulcan's ears a bit." Archer said, smiling. He explained their newest mission to him and he nodded.  
  
"Alright then. I'm just here to have another look at Hoshi's station."  
  
Ensign Hoshi Sato moved away from her station so that he could have a look at it. She watched, concerned, as he worked.  
  
"Not a problem Hoshi. Just some shorted circuits. I can have it foxed in no time. You'll be back to translating alien languages with the UT in no time."  
  
Two days later…  
  
By now the crew has all heard about the mysterious ship they were due to rendezvous with sometime today and were all anxious to see it. Rumors of all kinds were flying as to its nature. Was it an unidentified alien vessel come to make contact? Or was it just a Vulcan ship and the Captain was just exercising his sense of humor?  
  
The coordinates that Admiral Forrest had given them two days ago had led them to a small Mensharra-class planet out on the edge of the Vulcan charts. It was uninhabited and wasn't named as of yet. The Genesis was nowhere in sight.  
  
"Are you picking any ships up on the sensors?"  
  
Reed shook his head. No, but it's possible that there's one on the other side of the planet and it's just being hidden by the planet itself."  
  
"Travis, take us out of orbit and around to the other side. Malcolm, keep scanning."  
  
"It would really help if I knew what I was scanning for."  
  
"Keep at it." Archer insisted. "You'll know when you've found it."  
  
The ship came around to the other side of the strange orange-colored world. Even the water was a strange reddish color, very unlike Earth.  
  
"I'm picking up something." Reed said suddenly. "It's close." He looked up and stared at Archer. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was Enterprise's warp signature."  
  
"Close Malcolm. Hoshi, hail them."  
  
"They're hailing us, sir." At Archer's nod, she opened the channel.  
  
A tall woman with hair so black it shone with blue highlights. Her blue eyes gazed thoughtfully at the bridge crew. Behind her was an exact copy of Enterprise's bridge. The crew looked startled at the appearance of the other ship.  
  
"I'm Captain Serena Kyle of the starship Genesis. I presume that you are Jonathan Archer, Captain of the starship Enterprise."  
  
"Yes, that's me. I'm glad to meet you, Captain."  
  
"Wait a minute." Trip said from behind him. "You mean to tell us that this ship we're meeting is Starfleet?"  
  
"That is correct…Commander." Kyle replied after squinting to see Trip's rank pips. "You didn't tell them?"  
  
"No. I figured a surprise would be good for them. Besides, the rumors were quite entertaining."  
  
Kyle laughed, a pleasant bell like sound. "I'd imagine so. I didn't inform my crew either. I was also instructed not to. The only ones who knew were my Chief Engineer and Lieutenant Commander Wolffe, who I've been instructed to hand over to you."  
  
"I do hope I'm not leaving you short staffed with this."  
  
"Hardly. We've had an excess of medical staff since we've taken her on board. We were just completing shore leave. Some of my crew are still down below, but are due to be back any time now."  
  
"Would you and your command staff care to join myself and my officers for dinner tonight? Chef is quite a wonderful cook."  
  
"So we hear." Kyle said, sounding wistful. "I can't speak for them, but I'd be delighted to meet you face to face. I'll be sure to bring Anne with me to get her acquainted with her new home while still having some familiar faces around her."  
  
"Sounds like a good idea. At 18:00 hours then?"  
  
"Until then." The screen blanked, returning to the view of the ship and the orange planet in the background. The Genesis looked much like Enterprise; only it was a bit bigger.  
  
"Shore leave? On that?" Hoshi asked incredulously.  
  
"The planet is on our charts, but is not familiar to me, nor is much recorded about it." T'pol said  
  
"We'll just have to ask them about it when they come over." Mayweather said, shrugging.  
  
Reed looked up again. "I'm detecting two shuttlepods coming up from the surface. Several human life signs on board each of them. They're docking with the Genesis."  
  
"That must be the crew returning. Dress in your best everyone. We have guests for dinner tonight."  
  
"So this is the famous Enterprise." A gruff voice said as the shuttlepod docked with the other ship.  
  
"I've heard a lot about it." A gentler voice said admiringly.  
  
"Probably most of it was exaggerated." The first voice commented.  
  
"I wonder if there are any cute guys on board." A childlike voice said wistfully.  
  
"Have you read any of the bios we have on file?" the second voice asked. "There are enough to satisfy even you."  
  
The crew laughed as the docking procedures finished and the hatch opened.  
  
Captain Kyle stepped out of the shuttlepod to be greeted by the entire command crew of the Enterprise. Captain Archer walked up and extended his hand. She shook it. "Welcome aboard. I hope your all hungry." At the ravenous look of a short, grey haired man he laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. If you'll follow us."  
  
As they walked towards the mess hall, a blond girl with a very Asian look to her kept staring at the men in the party. "You were right, Alex. There are lots of cute guys."  
  
"That's what happens when you don't believe me, Yumeko. When I'm right, I'm very right." The other woman said, smirking.  
  
Reed and Trip exchanged looks, smiling.  
  
The tables in the mess hall had been rearranged to accommodate their visitors. The rest of the crew had eaten early so that room could be made for the visiting crew. Enterprise's crew was dressed in their finest as were their guests. The two crews looked each other over, not really sure what to make of the other.  
  
"Well, I suppose some introductions are in order." Archer said, breaking the silence. "This is my first officer, Subcommander T'pol, my chief engineer, Commander Charles Tucker. Our communications officer, Ensign Hoshi Sato, is over there by the punch bowl. The gentleman looking suspicious over in the corner there is Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, my chief armory officer. Our helmsman, Ensign Travis Mayweather is right here beside me. Doctor Phlox, well, I suppose you can all pick him out, but he's the Denobulan fellow you see standing by the window. How about your crew?"  
  
Kyle cleared her throat. "My first officer, Commander Jenna Foxfire, is currently in sickbay suffering from a rather large concussion right now. This is my chief armory officer, Lieutenant Alexis Remscheid, my communications officer Ensign Yumeko Ryuuyama. My chief medical officer, Lieutenant Jason McCormick, is standing beside my chief engineer, Commander Tyler Wolffe. To my right here is Lieutenant Commander Anne Wolffe, who will be transferring aboard Enterprise when we part ways. Finally, we have Ensign Tomas MacGreggor, my secondary navigator. He'll be replacing Commander Foxfire while she recovers."  
  
The crew nodded when their names were spoken, but otherwise continued to stare at the others. Doctor Phlox looked around and smiled. "Well then. Shall we try some of these rather interesting looking foods before they go bad on us?"  
  
The blond introduced as Yumeko Ryuuyama licked her lips and joined Phlox in his taste testing. The seemed to break the ice a bit and the two crews started to mingle a bit, exchanging pleasantries and other bits of small talk. Trip and Reed looked over at their opposites from the Genesis, looking thoughtful.  
  
"You think that we should go over and say hello?" Reed asked. "That MacGreggor girl looks like a nice girl."  
  
"At least you get a cute girl to talk to." Trip sighed. "This Wolffe guy looks really stiff and definitely not like a cute girl."  
  
"Well, some guys have all the luck." Reed smirked.  
  
"Excuse me, but I would like t' introduce myself." A timid little voice with a cute little Irish accent said from behind them. "I'm tryin' t' get a feel for my future coworkers. That is, if you don't mind me askin'."  
  
"Not at all." Trip looked down at her. She wasn't very tall, barely coming up to his chest with longish grey hair and sky blue eyes. A stray bang fell into her eye and she brushed it away impatiently. "I'm Trip and this is Malcolm."  
  
"Dia duit." She said politely, inclining her head forward. "I'm Anne Wolffe."  
  
"What did you just say?" Trip asked, puzzled.  
  
"My name?"  
  
"No, before that."  
  
"Ah! Sorry. I forget that most people don' speak that language anymore. It means hello or good day. It's a habit, really. I always speak it with my ma and my family. Especially the auld ones."  
  
"So it's not a conscious thing anymore?"  
  
Anne shook her head. "No' anymore, no." she laughed a little. "Jus' let me ken if it gets irritatin'."  
  
"Ken?" Malcolm blinked. "You mean know, right?"  
  
It was Anne's turn to look confused. "Pardon?"  
  
"One of the other officers, after hearing the exchange, came over, clearing their throat.  
  
"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear this amusing little exchange. I figure you could use some help on the translating from Irish to English."  
  
"Ah! Alex, thank ye." Anne clearly looked relieved. "They don' seem to ken wha' I be talking about."  
  
"They'd understand a bit better if you'd speak proper English instead of the garbled language you so speak." Alex pointed out.  
  
"I canna understand why ye say that. I'm only speakin' how I was taught. Besides, I don' see how ye can criticize, miss 'listen to me speak German'."  
  
Alex rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Anyways. Whenever Anne says she kens something, she's usually saying that she knows it. It's just a leftover from when her people completely spoke whatever their native tongue is."  
  
"Gaelic."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"Really?" Trip was soaking this all in. "Hoshi would be real interested in having a talk with you and learning it."  
  
"I'd be willin' t' do so." Anne nodded. "It'd bed nice to have someone around who can understand me."  
  
"I'll learn it if you want." Trip added. "I'd like to learn how you speak."  
  
"You open your mouth and make sounds." A sarcastically gruff voice with a thick Irish accent said from behind him. "It's no' that hard."  
  
Trip, Malcolm and Anne stared at her. Alex just nodded by way of greeting. "That wasna very nice, Tyler." Anne scowled.  
  
"Deal wi' it." Tyler growled back. "Y' ken I donna like lis'nin' to idiots speak."  
  
"Are you calling Enterprise's Chief of Engineering an idiot?" Reed asked, incredulous.  
  
"Yes, the Genesis's Chief of Engineering is calling him an idiot." The grey haired man crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared up at Trip.  
  
Alex stared at him. "Tyler, are you loosing your mind? Commander Tucker is one of Starfleet's best engineers."  
  
Before Trip could swell at the complement, Wolffe snorted. "You know exactly where my mind is, Alex. Besides, if he was really so intelligent, why is he on Enterprise? That's no' my idea of an intelligent career move. I'd ne'er want to be on a ship that is constantly shot at by all sorts o' weird things. I have a rather large liking for being alive, thank ye."  
  
"I consider it an honor to be serving with Captain Archer. Sure we get shot at a lot, but that's what we have Lieutenant Reed for." Trip said, trying to stick up for Enterprise.  
  
"Armory officers are the most trigger happy people I know." Alex reached over and casually smacked him on the back of the head. "Well, ye are!" he said indignantly.  
  
"As entertaining as you two are, I'd rather have the egos of my new crewmembers intact." Anne said warningly.  
  
"You really are no fun, Anne." Alex pouted.  
  
"Yes, but they're my crew now so I'll do the ego squashing here."  
  
Trip and Malcolm exchanged a glance while Tyler and Alex collapsed, howling with laughter.  
  
"Anne, remind me never to get on your bad side." Tyler said between gasps for breath. "Ye're far too vicious for me t' be doin' somethin' that abysmally stupid."  
  
"What's so funny over here?" Archer asked, walking over with Kyle beside him.  
  
"Just Anne, sir." Alex said. She'd managed to get her laughter under control, but Tyler was still laughing so hard he was clutching his sides.  
  
Kyle sighed. "Why did I ever let the two of them on my ship?"  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"You see, Jon, they're from the same family. I've never really been sure how they're related, but they're fairly close. Like twins almost. Whatever it is, they always seem to do this. One says something that's so funny that the other does what my Chief Engineer is currently doing. They haven't done this in months, though, and Tyler was starting to need it."  
  
"How's that?"  
  
"Tyler's been grumpy and snarly to the point where 'he's avoided by all of the other engineers."  
  
Tyler shrugged. "On the other hand, my engine room is runnin' fairly smoothly as a result. Don' complain too loudly, Cap'n."  
  
"So. You're my new medical officer." Archer extended his hand to Anne. "I'm glad to meet you."  
  
"And I you." Anne smiled shyly. "I've heard so many things about ye."  
  
"You have me at a disadvantage there, Lieutenant. I hope I won't be paying you too many visits in sickbay."  
  
"This is why I'm an engineer, Anne." Tyler said, grinning. "Doctors and police are the two sections in Starfleet that get the 'hope I never see ye' treatment."  
  
"And if ye were a doctor, ye woulna be able to swap bad engineering jokes with the guys." Anne pointed out.  
  
"True, and what would our lives be like if we didn't have to listen to them anymore? She should have been a doctor." Alex shook her head.  
  
"At any rate, I should be goin' t' talk with Doctor Phlox." Anne said, excusing herself. "A pleasure Cap'n, Trip, Malcolm."  
  
"Nice girl." Trip observed, watching her walk over to Phlox and Ensign Ryuuyama. 


	2. Too much liquor

Enterprise 02  
  
The little party went on for hours. Trip and Malcolm spent the rest of it talking to Yumeko Ryuuyama and Jason McCormick, Every so often Trip or Malcolm would glace up from their table to look over at the table where Alex and Tyler were sitting, nursing their drinks. Every so often Captain Kyle would wander over their way and sit down and talk for a while before heading off to talk to her other officers.  
  
Jason was in the process of telling a joke involving a trio of brothers by the name of Foot, Foot-foot-, and Foot-foot-foot. While he was telling it, Malcolm was busy staring at Alex, who had just taken her hair out of the tightly braided bun she'd had at the nape of her neck. Freed from its pins, the long blond braid fell down past her butt. She picked up the end and undid the elastic band tying it and undid it, combing her hair out with her fingers before rebraiding it.  
  
"So then Foot-foot-foot says, 'but Foot-foot can't die! We have one Foot in the grave already!'." Trip and Yumeko laughed, but when they noticed Malcolm not laughing with them Trip looked up, following his line of sight.  
  
"Pretty hair." He observed, elbowing him in the ribs.  
  
"Lieutenant Remscheid is very pretty." Yumeko commented, nodding.  
  
"She doesn't often take her hair down in public." Said Jason.  
  
"Which means she's either very bored or fishing."  
  
"Fishing for what? Complements?" asked Trip.  
  
"More like men." Yumeko sighed. "She's like that sometimes. It's amusing to watch, but the aftermath isn't pretty. She's not nice about it most of the time."  
  
"Meaning?" Malcolm asked, coming out of his daze.  
  
"She's a player." Jason translated.  
  
"Oh. I thought only men did that."  
  
"Well, if you factor in Alex's tomboyish upbringing, it makes more sense. She's not much of a lady. She's female. That's about it."  
  
"Shh!" Yumeko hissed at Jason. "She'll hear you, baka!"  
  
"She's too busy talking to Tyler to hear me." He told her.  
  
"Speaking of Tyler, what's his deal anyways?" Trip asked, curiosity getting the better of him.  
  
"He got to you, didn't he?" Jason smirked. "He does that. Getting under people's skin is one of the things he does best. It doesn't really help that he's one of the best engineers Starfleet has, yourself included in that list."  
  
"Leave the ego stroking for later, Jason." Yumeko chided.  
  
"At any rate, he's actually not that bad once you get to know him. He's got very few soft spots. All I know is that he has a thing for chocolate and another for blue eyes. I have yet to see him have any sort of extreme dislike for anyone with blue eyes. You're the closest thing I've seen."  
  
"You saw all that earlier?"  
  
He nodded. "Yeah, I did. Amusing though it was, I can't help but wonder why he took an instant disliking to you. It's very odd."  
  
"Perhaps Alex likes him." Yumeko suggested, eyes flashing merrily. "You know Wolffe."  
  
"Are they together?" Malcolm asked as Jason took a sip of water.  
  
He chocked while trying not to laugh at that. He managed to swallow. "Are you kidding? Those two? They'd kill each other in a few days. They're much better off as being best friends."  
  
"Wolffe doesn't swing that way, does he?" Yumeko asked, puzzled  
  
"Yet another one of his mysteries." Jason shook his head. "We know so little about him. What his family is like, what kinds of things he does when he's not glowering at the engineers or fiddling with the engines. Hell, we don't even know what kind of person he likes. Outside of the blue eyes thing I mean."  
  
"There are theories about it everywhere." Yumeko continued. "We just aren't sure where the rumor ends and the truth begins."  
  
"Sounds like someone else I know." Trip gave Malcolm a meaningful look.  
  
He just shrugged. "It's not Wolffe I'm interested in; it's Alex. Now that I know they aren't together I feel a bit better. If you'll excuse me." He got up and walked towards Alex and Tyler.  
  
They looked up as he approached. He stood for a bit before Alex invited him to sit down. They talked for a bit until Kyle pulled Tyler away, leaving Malcolm alone with Alex. She crossed her legs and leaned forward at the table, elbows leaning on the surface with her hand resting on one hand, looking intently at Malcolm.  
  
She wasn't wearing her uniform, but was instead wearing a pair or close fitting black pants and a baggy white collared top. Malcolm had on a pair of black slacks as well as a white dress shirt.  
  
"Now if Malcolm had blond hair and black eyes, they'd be a matched set." Tyler said, taking the seat Malcolm had previously inhabited. He put his drink down on the table and rolled his large grey eyes.  
  
"I don't know. They look cute together." Trip observed.  
  
"Feh. I've seen cuter couples. Cute couples never last. Trust me on that one."  
  
"Speaking from experience, Commander?" Yumeko asked politely.  
  
"So to speak." Tyler agreed, taking a long swig of his drink. He set the glass down on the table, rotating it slowly between his two hands. Tyler himself was dressed in a collared forest green shirt with the collar standing up and grey dress pants. There was a plain pewter band around his ring finger. His hands were slightly scared.  
  
"Nice ring. Married?" Trip asked.  
  
Tyler's head snapped up. "What makes you think that?" he snapped.  
  
"The ring on your finger."  
  
"Oh. That." he relaxed a bit. "It's my Engineer's ring. It's a thing my old high school did at graduation. I took advanced engineering all the way through and was given it on graduation. I prefer to wear it instead of the school grad ring. Doesn't get in the way like that other bulky thing does."  
  
"Advanced engineering? Tough class." Trip whistled admiringly. "Plain bands look better anyways."  
  
Tyler nodded, taking another swig. "I'd best be going. I have a lot of work to do in the morning."  
  
"Didn't you just get off shore leave?"  
  
He shook his head. "No. I didn't take any this time around. As soon as I do there's some crisis on the ship and I get called back anyways. Doesn't matter where I go. They find me rather quickly no matter how hard I try and hide."  
  
Trip shuddered, noticing that Jason and Yumeko had slipped away. "Don't you have to wait until the rest of the crew is ready to head back to the Genesis?"  
  
"You had to bring that up, didn't you?" Tyler sighed, looking forlornly at his empty glass. "I think I've had a bit too much to drink. I'm way to calm. I hate social gatherings."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Tyler frowned. "I'm not even sure why I'm talking to you. I don't like tall people."  
  
"From one Chief engineer to another?" he suggested.  
  
To Trip's surprise Tyler actually laughed. "That could be it. Anyways, I don't really like crowds. Don't even really like people much for that matter."  
  
"I think your friend Alex has taken a liking to Malcolm there."  
  
Tyler snorted and grabbed another drink from the table behind him. "It's a good thing that our two ships probably won't have many opportunities like this. Otherwise, your Armory officer might wind up with a shattered heart. Alex is like that. Stringing them along and cutting them loose when she gets bored."  
  
"So why are you letting her do this to him now?"  
  
"Because this falls under the category of a one night stand." Tyler knocked the entire contents of the glass back in one long pull. "I see no harm in letting her have some honest fun for a night. She didn't get her shore leave either so she's in need of some relaxation."  
  
Trip grabbed a drink as well and another one for Tyler. "Lieutenant McCormick was right you know. You really aren't that bad once someone gets to know you a little." He observed.  
  
"Or you get so much alcohol into my system that I slip." He grumped, taking a sip this time instead of a chug. "That's the other reason why I don't like gatherings. I get bored. Boredom equals depressed. Depression leads to the nearest keg of Guinness, and that leads to slipping up. When I slip, I talk. Too much, really. I just prefer to avoid these things all together so I don't wind up telling people things when I'm this tipsy."  
  
"You don't look drunk to me."  
  
"That's because I'm not. Not yet at any rate. Give it an hour tops."  
  
"That bad huh?" Tyler nodded glumly and slammed back the rest of the sticky black stuff in her glass. "I've got an idea. Why don't we blow this party? I'll show you around the ship."  
  
Tyler slammed his glass down on the table and stood up. "Deal."  
  
Alex and Malcolm had moved to a table in the corner of the mess hall to talk in quiet. Mostly they talked about weaponry and strategy, but they were in serious danger of wandering off topic.  
  
Malcolm kept staring at her legs and back up at her face. The black eyes that bored deep into his while he talked, the long, elegant fingers resting lightly on the side of her face, flawless skin slightly colored a blush color, which could have been the result of the stuff they were drinking. He had to fight the urge to reach over and touch her, take her other hand in his.  
  
Alex was quite happy to listen to him talk, regardless of the topic. She'd never dated any British men before and was beginning to think she'd missed out. His voice was deep and had that nice, sexy accent. It didn't hurt at all that he was fairly easy on the eyes. If he'd loose that very serious look on his face, he'd be perfect. She stifled a sigh and leaned a little more forward onto the table, leaning a bit closer to Malcolm.  
  
Someone bumped into her from the side and sent her tumbling into Malcolm. "Oops. Sorry sir." The young ensign apologized and left as quickly as he could.  
  
Malcolm fumbled to get her sitting back up again. Some of the fumbling was deliberate, as it felt good to have her pushed right up against him like that. Alex wasn't objecting at all to being that close so he gave up and let her move where she wanted to. Much to his surprise, she adjusted her body slightly so that she wasn't crushing his right arm and twisted so that it was behind and up near her shoulders.  
  
Alex frowned slightly and craned her neck upwards, sniffing at Malcolm's neck. "You smell good." She whispered in his ear.  
  
"Thank you." He said, unsure of what else to say. "You look good."  
  
"A complement?" She rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm flattered." She sat up.  
  
"I see you two have become friends, Alex." Kyle said as she walked over with Archer.  
  
"Hello, Captain." Alex smiled. "Lieutenant Reed is actually quite nice. He promised to show me the armory."  
  
She raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Is that so? Well, enjoy yourselves. Just don't set off any torpedoes, eh?"  
  
"What was that last comment about?" Archer asked.  
  
"There's one thing I've learned when dealing with Alexis Remscheid, Jon. She likes men. A comment like that, coming from my chief armory officer in this kind of situation, usually only has one meaning. I trust I don't have to explain that part to you, do I?"  
  
Archer sighed and shook his head. "No, I don't think that's necessary, Serena."  
  
She nodded. "Good. I didn't really want to anyways. It's a bit embarrassing to discus the private lives and habits of my senior staff."  
  
"I understand." He looked around. "Where'd Trip and Wolffe vanish to?"  
  
"Engine room, probably. He'll never admit it, but he's been dying to see Enterprise's engines ever since we got this assignment."  
  
"There go Alex and Malcolm."  
  
"I don't expect to see them until tomorrow." Serena's eyes danced with mirth. "I'm looking forward to having a happy crew after tonight."  
  
Slowly, one by one, the various crewmembers left the mess hall and headed back to either the waiting shuttle pod or their quarters. Alex and Tyler weren't among them. Tyler had planned on staying with Anne anyways, and everyone at the party could figure out where Alex wound up and quietly joked about it on the trip back to the Genesis. 


	3. Engine room musings

Enterprise 03  
  
Tyler wandered around the warp core, running a hand along its length. He paused every once and a while to look at what the display screens read. Trip watched him, curious. Here was one of the most bizarre people he'd met so far calmed down by just being in engineering. Or maybe it was all that stuff he'd been drinking, but, whatever the reason, Tyler seemed so much more relaxed now than he had been in the mess hall.  
  
Engineering was pretty much empty, the few night shift engineers keeping out of their way, simply going about their jobs giving Trip a nod when they passed him and glancing curiously over at Tyler.  
  
"So what do you think?"  
  
"Nice engine." Tyler said, turning to face him. "There's jus' one little thing. There's no way you could hold a stable field at warp 5 the way it is righ' now."  
  
"I've been working on the problem." Trip said.  
  
"Well, whatever ye're doing, it obviously isna working; however, I believe I can help. Genesis, with my help, was able to sustain warp 5 for quite some time. It's how we managed to catch up to ye here."  
  
"Not bad. How'd you do it?"  
  
"I'll show ye. It's a lot easier than me having to explain."  
  
"How about in the morning. I don't think I want someone who's been drinking fiddling with my engines."  
  
"In which case you should probably leave as well, Commander Tucker." Tyler flashed a smile.  
  
"I haven't had nearly as much as you have if you're making cracks."  
  
Tyler shook his head, his disorderly grey hair flying around his face as he did so. "You do have a valid point there. I should find Anne's cabin before I pass out here."  
  
"Why do you need to find Anne's cabin?"  
  
"Childhood friend. We grew up together. She's like a sister to me. We even have the same birthday. She's five minutes older than me."  
  
"Ah. So you aren't seeing each other"  
  
"Not in the sense you're talking about, no." He made a last attempt to straighten his unruly hair out and gave up. "Anyways, I know what cabin she's been assigned to." At Trip's questioning glance, she rattled off a number.  
  
"That's only a few doors down from my quarters. I'll walk with you if you don't mind. I'm heading that way anyways."  
  
"Sure. You aren't half bad, Tucker. Most engineers are egotistical pricks."  
  
He nodded. "Yeah, I know. You just have to learn how to get around that. I wasn't too sure about you at first. You didn't come off as being a personable individual."  
  
"I do that on purpose for the most part." He shrugged.  
  
An awkward silence followed after they got into the turbolift. Trip kept staring at Tyler. He's got interesting eyes. He thought to himself. Why am I thinking about that anyways? That's just sick, Trip. Tyler's a guy for pity's sake. He shook his head. Enough of that. I've just had a little too much to drink, that's all.  
  
"Are you ok, Tucker?"  
  
"I'm just tired, had a little much to drink at the party. I'll feel better in the morning."  
  
Tyler narrowed his eyes. "Somehow I doubt that. If your behavior right now is any indication, you'll have a nasty headache in the morning."  
  
"I'll just go see Phlox then."  
  
"There's no need to bother the doctor with something that's so easily fixed." Tyler insisted. "It's not hard, really."  
  
The lift stopped and they walked towards Trip's cabin. "I'm assuming that you know what you're doing."  
  
"Piff. I've watched my uncles do this for years now. Ye've pro'lly heard stories about the Irish love of their drinks, now, haven't ye?"  
  
"Everyone has." Trip shrugged. "It's one of those things that's fairly common no matter where you go."  
  
"Good. At any rate, this won' take long, I promise ye."  
  
"And if I don't want your help?"  
  
"Ye'd be an idiot not to. It's really either ye let me help ye of ye're own free will, or I hit ye really heard on the head. It's guaranteed to be less painful in the end than the hangover ye'll have in the morning."  
  
"Not much of a choice now is it?"  
  
"No' really, no." Tyler grinned, showing his teeth. Trip noted that his incisors were a bit more pronounced than the average human's were giving him a slightly wolfish look, especially with those large eyes of his.  
  
"Ok, then. Come on in." Trip let him in to his quarters. "Sorry about the mess."  
  
"Mine's worse. Or would be if I actually used my cabin for anything other than sleeping. Most of my time is spent in engineering, on the bridge, around the ship fixing things, or down on away missions. I hardly ever see my cabin at all, no' since I was assigned to the Genesis a' any rate."  
  
"Do ye have any water around here I could use? And a cup?"  
  
"I'll grab some from the bathroom." He headed off and returned a little alter with a clear glass full of water."  
  
"Ok, good. Now, this might taste a wee bit awful, so I'm warnin' ye now."  
  
"What might?"  
  
Tyler pulled a small pouch out of the pocket of his pants and sprinkled a little bit of gray powder into the glass. "Drink this entire glass of water down, wait a minute, and then drink as much water as ye can afore going to bed. I'll be doing the same thing myself when I get to Anne's cabin."  
  
Trip looked at the glass in his hand quizzically before downing it. He made a face. "What the hell was that?"  
  
"That? I'm no' really sure, but it's a blend o' herbs that my grandmother makes and sells to the townsfolk. Anne might ken better as to what's in it, but I'm not sure if she does. It doesna really matter anyways. All ye need to ken is that it works."  
  
"I'll take your word for it Tyler. So now's the drinking as much water as I can part, right?"  
  
He nodded. "Aye, and this is where I'll be sayin' good night to ye. I need to be takin' my medicine and headin' for bed if I'm to be helpin' ye with yer engines tomorra."  
  
"Ok then. Goodnight Tyler."  
  
"Goodnight, Commander."  
  
"Just call me Trip. All my friends do."  
  
Tyler nodded and left.  
  
Anne looked up when Tyler walked in and smiled. "So?" she asked eagerly. "How was your evening piuthar?"  
  
"No' bad. It wasna as horrid as I thought it was goin' t' be." Tyler flopped down on the beanbag chair "Yer new chief o' engineering isna a bad person."  
  
"Ah so ye like him?"  
  
Tyler stared at her. "Sort of. He's a decent sort, but I wouldna think o' him the way ye prolly would like me to."  
  
Anne huffed a little as she poured Tyler a glass of water and poured some of the grey powder into it, handing it to him. He made a face and drank it all, getting up to pour another and drinking it down.  
  
"Why can't ye make up yer mind, Tyler? Ye do have certain responsibilities back home and ye canna afford t' take yer time."  
  
Tyler sighed. "I ken, Anna, I ken. It's jus' that I don' like t' be pressured inta tha' sort o' thing. Ye ken that."  
  
"Yes, Tyler, I ken. I'll try t' be patient wi' ye."  
  
"Tha's all I ask." 


	4. Food, engines, and back home

Enterprise 04  
  
Trip woke the next morning with very little headache. The little one he had could b taken care of by getting some food into his stomach. He half walked, half stumbled over to the bathroom to shower and shave, then back out to dress. He looked in the bathroom mirror, combing his hair while thinking.  
  
What am I going to say when I see Tyler today? Why am I even concerned about that? Get it together, Trip. This is insanity! He scolded himself, putting the comb down. He stared at himself in the mirror for a while. He shook his head. I can't believe I'm even having this internal monologue. I need to talk to someone about this.  
  
He left his cabin and headed for the mess hall, bumping in to a chatty Anne and a yawning, sleepy eyed Tyler.  
  
"Morning!" he said cheerfully, receiving a similar greeting from Anne and a glare from Tyler. "What's with you this morning, sunshine?"  
  
"Call me sunshine again and I'll remove a certain piece of yer anatomy an' feed it to ye friend in butter sauce." He growled.  
  
"He's just grumpy. It's an early morning thing. Tyler hasn't woken up on the good side of the bed in a long time."  
  
"Five months, three weeks and 2 days." Tyler said through another yawn.  
  
"Keeping count? That's odd."  
  
"There are stranger things to do." He shrugged, rubbing his eyes.  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Blaming it on people around ye, for one. I prefer to just keep count and let life continue. No sense in getting bent out of shape about it."  
  
"Sure." Anne rolled her eyes. "Ye say that now, but we all ken that, as soon as somethin' goes wrong in engineering, ye'll be barking like a wolf with the foaming sickness."  
  
"You mean rabies?" Trip asked.  
  
"That's wha' I said." Anne peered up at him. "Maybe I should take ye to sickbay and examine yer hearing."  
  
"I assure you that my hearing is in good condition."  
  
"Sure." Tyler yawned again. They could hear his jawbone crack a little. "We believe ye, Trip."  
  
"Trip?" Anne blinked. "Who's Trip?"  
  
"That would be me. It's what my friends call me."  
  
"I'm thinking he mun a' fallen down a few too many times as a child to have earned that nickname." Tyler said, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.  
  
"That's not funny, Tyler." Trip glowered.  
  
"Oh, but 'tis, 'tis!" Tyler crowed, ducking in to the mess hall. "I'm surprised tha' no one has thought o' that one afore now."  
  
"Morning Trip." Captain Archer said by way of greeting. "Took off from the party early?"  
  
"Got bored." He shrugged, sending a quick glare at Tyler. "Besides, I promised Commander Wolffe here a tour of the ship and the engine room."  
  
"Ah." Archer did a double take. "I thought you'd gone back to the Genesis."  
  
Tyler shook his head. "Nah. I had things I had to do. I promised Trip that I'd help him wi' the warp core. I ken how to keep the field stable at warp 5 as well as how to keep yer ship from flyin' apart on ye at that speed."  
  
"That would be a handy thing to have on our side, Commander. Thanks for your kind offer."  
  
He sniffed. "Kind has nothing t' do wi' it." He said, shrugging. "I have friends on this ship an' the last thing I need is for the ship to fall apart, killing them both."  
  
"Both?" Archer asked, curious.  
  
"Anne and Trip. Anne I've kent all my life. Trip was gracious enough to rescue me from that little get together last night. He turned out to be no' quite as bad as most of the other engineers I've ee'r met."  
  
"Thanks Tyler." Trip growled, poking him playfully in the shoulder.  
  
He swatted back at him. "Ye're welcome. Now, if it's all the same to ye, I'd like to eat something. I'd also like t' see if Alex is still here. I ken that she was talkin' to Lieutenant Reed for much of last night, but I'm no' really sure wha' happened after I left."  
  
"Why don't you ask her?" Archer invited. "She's sitting right over there with Malcolm."  
  
Tyler smirked and Anne shook her head. "Really, sir, you shouldn't have said anything."  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"He doesn't need any encouragement in that department." Anne sighed as Tyler meandered over to sit down with Malcolm and Alex, who greeted him heartily while Malcolm looked like he wanted to vanish. "See what I mean? Just be glad you don't have to deal wi' him on a regular basis. I'm certain tha' your Commander Tucker here is a handful enough as 'tis."  
  
"How does Commander Wolffe feel about Vulcans?"  
  
"I'm no' sure, really." Anne looked over at the now howling with laughter Tyler. "I've never seen him around one before. I also don' recall him meeting Subcommander T'pol last nigh'."  
  
"That'll change fairly soon, I think." Trip said, pointing. "She's at the table beside theirs."  
  
As the three watched while getting food, Tyler turned to the Vulcan, glowering. He said something and T'pol responded with a flat expression on her face. Tyler mimicked her eyebrow raise and laughed, turning back to Alex and Malcolm. After a few minutes, Malcolm excused himself and left the mess hall leaving Alex and Tyler to talk quite animatedly in Gaelic.  
  
"I didn't know she spoke your language." Dr. Phlox commented from the other side of the table Archer, Trip and Anne had sat at.  
  
"She's quite good a' it, really." Anne shrugged. "I didn't know you liked blueberry pancakes, doctor."  
  
"Their quite tasty. I prefer the blueberry to the plain, actually."  
  
Anne's grayish eyes lit up. "Really? Me too! I prefer waffles to pancakes myself, even though there really isna much difference in the overall mix. It's the butter seeping into the little square depressions and mixing with the syrup tha' makes all the diff'rence in the taste."  
  
"You're quite the gourmet." Trip teased.  
  
"My father was a very good cook and he taught me all I know about food." Anne swallowed another mouthful, looking over at Tyler and Alex thoughtfully.  
  
The two looked back and Alex made a casual statement in Gaelic that had Tyler howling with laughter and Anne blushing a bright scarlet.  
  
"What did she say?" Trip asked, puzzled.  
  
"It's nothing." Anne said, applying herself to her breakfast. "Maybe I'll tell ye later."  
  
Trip and Phlox looked puzzled. "I think we need to get Hoshi to learn Gaelic just so to be safe."  
  
"Safe from wha', Commander?" Anne asked. "Wee littl' me?"  
  
"Nah, I'm more worried about Tyler and Alex over there insulting everyone behind their backs."  
  
"They'd do tha' anyways. They don' need to speak Gaelic to do it either. They have their own code worked out, most of it in gestures and catch phrases. Ye mun understand that they're an odd pair."  
  
Alex and Tyler continued their conversation in Gaelic as Anne tried to explain things to her new crewmates.  
  
"So, how did your evening go last night?" Alex asked Tyler, sipping her usual morning glass of apple juice.  
  
"No' bad. Trip isna a bad person to hang around wi'." Tyler shrugged dismissively. "How 'bout yers?"  
  
Alex smiled widely and leaned back in her chair, stretching luxuriously. "I could quite happily spend my nights like that more often. It's also the most fun I've had in a long time. Since we left Earth anyways."  
  
Tyler snorted. "I don' want any details, ye hear? Keep that to yerself."  
  
"Aw, c'mon, Tyler." Alex teased, breaking back into English. "Aren't you even the least bit curious?"  
  
The mess hall turned to follow this.  
  
"No, Alex, I'm no'." Tyler flushed. "Keep ye're sick mind to yerself. I have enough things t' worry about wi'out ye givin' me more." He stood and left the mess hall.  
  
"What was that all about?" Archer asked Alex, puzzled.  
  
"Oh, Tyler's just lacking in a sense of humour this morning."  
  
Anne turned to Alex. "Tyler also doesna have his mind in the gutter, unlike some a certain armory officer I ken."  
  
Alex blinked, startled. "Did something happen to Tyler last night that I don't know about? He's never that grumpy with me."  
  
"What'd you say to him?" Phlox asked. "He looked and sounded very annoyed."  
  
"I'd say embarrassed." Anne countered. "Keep in mind that' I've kent him all my life." She added at their looks. "I ken full well what's goin' on here." She shot a look at Alex. "I'm a bit concerned at leaving him wi' ye on the Genesis in light of wha' just' happened; however, it seems I have no choice in the matter. Behave yerself, Alex. I don' want any letter from him sayin' that ye've been teasin' him like ye jus' did."  
  
Alex shrugged. "I'll try, but he's such an easy target." She stood. "If anyone's looking for me, I'll be taking a self guided tour of the ship. Call me when we're leaving to go back to the Genesis." She walked out of the mess hall.  
  
Tyler leaned against a bulkhead, his back pressed against the vibrating metal. He put his face in his hands, letting his floppy grey hair fall into his face. Shaking his head, he tossed it back, running his hands over his head. I canna believe that Alex. How could she tease me so? She kens full well why I dinna wan' to ken the details of her evening wi' that Lieutenant. He sighed and pushed away from the bulkhead. An' why did she have t' say that all out in English anyways? He turned and slammed his fist into the wall, leaning his head against it. Damn her.  
  
"Commander?"  
  
Tyler jumped, putting a hand to his chest. "Trip! Ye scared ten years o' life out o' me. Ye dinna have t' creep up on me so."  
  
"I wasn't exactly quiet about it. You were just lost in thought I guess." Trip regarded Tyler thoughtfully. "You don't look to happy about what Lieutenant Remscheid said in the mess hall."  
  
"No' really, no." he shook his head. "It's the same thing every time she, well…y'ken. Like last night." Tyler squirmed.  
  
"I think I know what you're talking about. The thing with Malcolm?"  
  
"Aye, that." Tyler looked even more uncomfortable. "She takes a very sadistic pleasure in teasin' me about things like that. She kens I hate it when she does that, but she still does all the same."  
  
Trip frowned. "And she's your best friend? Some friend."  
  
"Nay, other than that teasing, she's the best friend I have. Her and Anne, that is."  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence before Trip suggested that they get to work on the warp core. Relieved, Tyler nodded and they headed for the turbolift. He tried to explain to Trip what he planned on doing, making wild gestures with his arms that only served to puzzle Trip more. Finally he gave up, saying that he'd show him when they got to engineering.  
  
Trip watched, fascinated as Tyler crawled around the warp core, talking animatedly the whole time, explaining what he was doing. Trip often had to shake himself to bring himself back to what they were doing. He kept getting distracted.  
  
"Has anyone ever told you that you have a very pleasant voice to listen to?" he blurted out suddenly.  
  
Tyler paused in his narrative and looked down at him. "Where did tha' come from?"  
  
"Just commenting. You have a nice voice."  
  
He gave a rough barking laugh. "Speakin' voice, perhaps, but you don' want' t' hear me sing. Ye'd rather listen to claws on a chalk board than liste t' me singin'."  
  
"I'm not much of a singer myself." Trip said. "Anyways, you were saying something about the antimatter?"  
  
"Ah yes." Tyler continued on while Trip mentally kicked himself for being an idiot.  
  
A few hours later, Tyler was finished and looked extremely disheveled, coated in sweat and grease, his hair sticking out at wild angles, wisps of it falling into his face.  
  
"Well, ye think ye could do that again if ye needed to?"  
  
"Probably. I managed to catch most of what you said. You did talk kind of fast."  
  
"Sorry abou' that." Tyler flushed. "I do that. next time just tell me to slow down a little."  
  
"Would you like to clean up a little? My cabin isn't far." Trip's blue eyes bore into Tyler's pale grey ones.  
  
"Bridge to Commander Wolffe." The intercom beeped.  
  
Tyler went over and pressed the button, relieved at the interruption. "Wolffe here. Wha' can I do for ye?"  
  
"This is Ensign Sato, sir. Genesis sent a message saying that their sending a shuttle pod over to pick you and Lieutenant Remscheid up."  
  
"I'm on my way, Ensign. Thank ye." Turning to Trip, he said, "I s'pose tha' I'll have t' pass up yer kind offer, Trip. Next time we're in the neighborhood."  
  
Trip nodded. "I'll walk with you to the airlock. If you don't mind that is."  
  
"No' at all, Trip." Tyler said, blushing a little. "I'd appreciate the company."  
  
Alex and Malcolm were at the airlock before them saying goodbye. Tyler and Trip ducked back into the corridor. Tyler snickered a little. "A bit cozy, aren't they?"  
  
Trip grinned down at him. "Now I know for sure what they were up to last night."  
  
Tyler made a face. "Wi' Alex, that sort o' thing is a given."  
  
Trip stuck his head back around the corner. "It's time like this that I miss my girlfriend."  
  
"Ye have a girlfriend?" Tyler sounded surprised.  
  
"Yeah, but we broke up not long after Enterprise left Earth." He sounded a bit wistful, but turned a smiling face back to her. "But that's in the past. What about you? Anyone special back on Earth?"  
  
"No' in the sense ye're talkin' about. I have my family and my wolf."  
  
"Wolf?"  
  
"My pet. He's a big grey and black wolf. I saved him as a puppy an' he's been with me e'er syne. He's too big t' be takin' into space. I brought my cat wi' me instead."  
  
"I think I'll have to write to you. You're an interesting person, Tyler."  
  
"Thank ye. Ye are, too. No' many people are so nice to me. Or enjoy my company."  
  
"What say we jump the couple there? As revenge for this morning?"  
  
A grin spread across Tyler's face, giving him a wolfish look. "A good idea that."  
  
They strolled out into the corridor, Tyler wolf whistling while Trip made comments in a laughing voice."  
  
Alex looked over at them and stuck out her tongue. "You're just jealous, Tyler."  
  
That stopped him and made him blush furiously. He made a snarling comment in Gaelic.  
  
"No need to get nasty Ty."  
  
"I'll show ye no need." He snarled as the airlock opened and Lieutenant Shyanne Adams, Genesis's science officer walked out.  
  
"Did I interrupt something?" she asked.  
  
"No' at all Lieutenant." Tyler said, storming past her. "No' at all."  
  
Trip and Malcolm exchanged a look and shrugged. Alex kissed Malcolm quickly and followed Tyler on to the shuttle.  
  
Shyanne looked at her superiors, baffled. "There are times when I wish I hadn't been assigned to Genesis." She said, sighing. "I hope that Lieutenant Commander Wolffe doesn't give you any problems." She smiled faintly, pulling the airlock closed. 


	5. Working together

Enterprise 05  
  
"What was that all about?" Malcolm asked Trip as they headed for the bridge. "Your guess is as good as mine." Trip shrugged. They walked on in silence until they got into the turbolift. He turned to Malcolm. "So, what was Lieutenant Remscheid like?" "I beg your pardon." Malcolm looked like he'd been hit with a wooden plank on the back of his head. "Oh, c'mon Malcolm. You know what I'm talking about. Have fun?" Malcolm turned red. "If you must know, yes, she's fun. A little odd, but fun. Very nice, too." "I didn't think that tiny blondes were your thing." "I also didn't think that you liked short grey haired engineers." Malcolm shot back. Trip looked like Malcolm had a little earlier. "Excuse me?" "Oh come on, Commander." Malcolm said, a smile crossing his face. "I saw the two of you talking." "He's just a nice guy. He also helped me get the engine to work without falling apart at warp 5." "That was nice of him." Malcolm acknowledged. "Still, he kept giving you an odd look when he thought no one was looking. If you aren't inclined that way, I'm positive he is." "Just based on some looks?" "Not entirely. Computer, pause turbolift." He took a breath and continued. "From what Alex told me, Tyler has not once in his life had a girlfriend or even expressed an interest in ever doing so. That alone wouldn't be enough to make it firm, but she also said that there's some weird belief that her ancestors had about that. Tyler, apparently, has a twin. Alex didn't mention the twin's name, but he has one. Anyways, they believed that when twins of the same gender are born, that one is really the opposite of what they appear to be. They are raised as the opposite gender." "So your saying that Tyler might not be what he really appears to be?" "Tyler's definitely male, but it's possible that his twin is the male of the pair and Tyler was raised as a girl." "Malcolm, that makes no sense whatsoever. Tyler is quite obviously masculine." "Does the word 'tomboy' mean anything to you? Computer resume. Think about that. Tyler is male, but might not think like one." The lift doors opened and they walked out onto the bridge.  
  
Archer turned when her heard the lift doors open. Trip had a very puzzled look on his face. Malcolm, on the other hand, looked quite happy. With a pleased sounding chuckle, he went over to his post and sat down. Trip just stood by the doors to the lift, frowning. Every ohnce in a while he'd look up and look out at the view of the Genesis floating in space just a head of them. A shuttle pod apporached it. Hoshi looked over at Trip and raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong Commander?" she asked. "You look confused." "It's nothing, really." he shook his head. "Nothing." Hoshi' console beeped before Archer could say anything to his Chief Engineer. "Captain Kyle is hailing us, sir." "On screen." he said, making a mental note to talk to Trip later. Captain Kyle's friendly face appeared on the view. "Nice to see you all again. Thanks again for the wonderful party last night." The lift doors  
  
behind her opened, revealing a grumbling Tyler and a grinning Alex. Lieutenant Adams walked on, shaking her head. Serena looked at them and grinned. "If I know those two as well as I think I do, it was quite a night." She shot Alex a meaningful look. The chief armory officer meerly shrugged and grinned, streatching happily. "Anyways, we've gotten our orders from Starfleet. We're supposed to head over to the next star system to have a look at a comet." Behind her, Tyler rolled his eyes and yawned. "Joy. Ye ken wha' this means. Engine overhaul. Again! Tha's the third time this month." "That's hardly my fault, Wolffe." Serena scolded. "Who keeps mucking wtih it? Who keeps insisting it needs work?" Tyler grinned. "I don' ken wha' ye're talkin' about Cap'n. Tis no' me, tha's fer sure." "Oh brother." Alex rolled her eyes. "Don't try pulling that 'blame all the engineers but yourself' routine. It doesn't work." Over oon the Enterprise, Trip had a very odd look on his face. He watched the view screen intently, but to those who had no idea what had been going on, namely everyone except Malcolm, it was unclear what he was staring at. Malcolm himself was more interested in watching Alex as she reumed paying attention to her console. She looked up, caught his eye, winked and smiled weakly, and went back to poking at something. Archer smiled, missing the exchange. "Sounds fairly dull if you ask me. We don't have any plans that I know of. Mind if we tag along?" "Not at all." Serena looked slightly relieved. Wolffe, however, looked a little ill for some reason. Lieutenant Adams looked over at him. "Are you feeling ok sir? You look like you're going to be sick." Wolffe waved a hand at her. "I'm fine Lieutenant. I jus' need t' lie down fer a wee bit. Tha's all." Serena looked back at him and frowned. "I agree. You look like hell commander." Anne walked on to the Enterprise bridge, took one look at Tyler and frowned. "Tyler, get down t' sick bay. Ye need help." "What's wrong with him?" Trip asked. "I'm tellin' ye Anne. I don' need medicine. I jus' need t' lie down for a wee. Tha's all." "Ye need a bit more than tha'." she looked over at Alex. "Do me a favour Lieutenant, and call Lieutenant McCormick down in sickbay. Tell him tha' if Tyler doesna show up there soon ye both have my full permission t' do what'ere it takes t' get him down there and get checked out. Restraints, sedatives, what'ere. I doo't care." "That serious, huh?" Now Archer was looking concerned. "Y'see, Cap'n, Wolffe has a very...unique condition tha' I'm not at liberty t' talk about t' people who aren't fully aware of the situation. I'm also no' permitted t' inform any one of tha' situation either. The crew of the Genesis is equipped to handle it; how'ere, Wolffe has developed a phobia o' doctors." Anne smiled slightly at that. "Tis quite funny at times. This is no' one o' them." "I'm tellin' ye..." Wolffe started. "Ye'll do as ye're told or I'll tell." Anne said, her normally sweet and gentle voice taking on a threatning tone. "I'm warnin' ye. Ye ken wha'll happen if ye don' comply." Wolffe blanched even more, if that was possible. His shoulders slumped after another moment. "Fine. I'll go. I don' like it, but I'll go." Anne was visibly relieved, but Trip still looked slightly concerned. He made a note to talk to talk to Anne about it later. As Wolffe left the bridge, plans were amde to pool the resources of the two ships to better observe the comet. T'pol made an offhand remark about the comet's trajectory taking it near an inhabited star system after Ensign Tomas Mittermeyer sent them the coordiantes, which excited Archer. Serena was more interested in the comet, but Archer's enthusiasm was tangible to all. After a little while longer, Trip excused himself to go down to engineering and Captain Kyle closed their communication not long after that. Archer leaned back in his chair, instructing Travis to head for the comet. He had planned on talking to Trip, but that would wait until he could get him alone. He'd call him up to his ready room later, when they both got off shift. Malcom informed him that the Genesis was matching their speed and heading, pacing right beside them.  
  
Wolffe galred at the doctor as he sat on the edge of a bed, the sleeve of his jumpsuit rolled up to reveal a well formed bicep. Lieutenant Jason McCormick applied a hypospray to his arm, releasing a dosage of medication into his system with a hiss. "Be a little moe careful next time, there Tyler." he scolded. "I don't like seeign you down here so often. It's not good for you and I do get tired of having you taking up space in my sickbay." "Can it Jason." Tyler growled, showing his teeth. "I don' need ye on my case. Anne is quite enough." "And that's more than most people can handle." he admitted. "Still, I do wish you'd tell me what set you off this badly." "Tis no' ye're business, Jason." "I can argue that as chief medical officer, but it'll take more truth serum than has ever been created to pry it out of you and I don't have the time to waste on torturing you, so I guess I'll have to leave it be for now. I'm just relieved Anne is as nosey as she is and ordered you down here." he paused and pered at him. "Are you sure you two aren't amrried? You sure act liek it sometimes." "I'm sure, Jason. Marry tha'? Are ye daft man? I wouldna do somethin' tha' phenominally daft and ye ken tha' well." "Aye, I ken, I ken." he laughed, imitaitng her accent. His tone grew more serious. "Just be careful, ok? Alex and Anne would both use my hide for a wall hanging if anything ever happened to you." "Aye, aye. Can I go now?" At his reluctant nod, Tyler hopped off the bed and headed out the door and towards his cabin to shower. 'I still say tha' all I needed was t' lie down for a wee.' he grumped to himself as he rolled his sleeve back down. He walked into his qauters and just flopped down on his bed, staring up at the celing in contemplation. Contemplation of what had just happened, of his visit to the Enterprise, of Anne ordering him to get down to sickbay, of Alex's night with that other armory chief. A brief wash of envy hit him at that last one. What would it be like...? 'No!' he almost screamed out loud. 'I canna be thinkin' things like ta'. No' here. No' now. No' after what jus' happened today. I canna afford to.' Forcing his mind away from that, Tyler rolled over on to his stomach and buried his face in a pillow, his shaggy grey hair falling forward. "I canna take this anymore! I'll go crazy if it continues. Why did this have t' happen t' me? Why!!!" The last he screamed out as the years of repressed  
  
agony caught up with him. It was just a fluke that it wasn't loud enough for anyone else to hear, that there was no one around who could have heard him. Had he waited another few seconds, a crewman sent to repair a nearby terminal would have heard him. Tyler degenerated into racking sobs that couldn't be heard outside of his cabin, muffled as they were by the pillow he'd buried his face in. When the sobbing subsided, he sat up and wiped his face off with one hand and reached for the comm with the other. he hailed the bridge, letting  
  
them know that he was going to catch a quick shower and head over to engineering. That done, he sent a similar hail to engineering, got up and walked into the small bathroom at one end of his cabin. Dimly, a memory of Trip offering him the use of the shower in his cabin floated up. Tyler smiled faintly. "If only he kent." He shook his head as he peeled his uniform off. "Would ye think so highly of me if ye kent wha' was wrong wtih me? I sometimes wonder if anyone could possibly accept me for wha' I am and no' what they think I am. How long can I possibly hope t' keep this charade up? I always kent tha' it wouldna be forever. Funny thing is tha' I dson' care much about hidding anymore, but I'm no' left with much choice in the matter, now am I? I'm jus' gald tha' I have Anne and Alex." He laughed, a short laugh full of bitterness. "Granted, in order to keep Anne nearby we have to have Enterprise with us. How long? How long before they figure it out? How long before they find out what I am?" He shuddered at the thought. The Enterprise crew came off to him as being a bit naive, not really prepared to deal wtih all that the universe had in store for them. "How will they react to the reality? They don' strike me as the kind o' people tha' would deal wtih harsh reality overly well." He climbed into the shower and turned the water on as hot as it would go, gasping at the scalding heat washing over his body. When he adjusted to  
  
it, he sat down on the floor, cuddling his knees up to his chest and sat. Just sat, letting his maind wander, exploring possibilities that would never become reality. All of his dreams would never meet reality. "Tha's enough moping." he said decisivrly. "I canna do anythin' about it, so I might as well jus' get on wtih life. I have a job to do, so I'd best get out o' here before the water starts to cool." He stood, reaching for a towel and dryed himself off before putting on a clean uniform. He didn't bother trying to dry his hair as it would dry just fine as he worked on the engines. He just brushed it out and tucked the ends into a small tail to keep it out of his face. He'd have to get a hair cut soon, but that could wait. He paused in front of the doors to his cabin. "Here goes nothin'." he said, sqauring his shoulders and walking out of his cabin and down towards engineering. 


	6. Feelings

Enterprise 06  
  
Back up on the bridge of the Genesis, Alex was bored. Bored, and worried. Worried about Tyler. She hadn't seen him have a reaction like that in a long time, not in years, really. She frowned and looked up at the view screen. The Enterprise. If it wasn't so painful to Tyler she'd laugh. Something about the Enterprise set him off. 'This could be bad. Very bad.' she thought to herself. 'I have to figure out what it is before he looses it completely.' Alex had a vague idea, but couldn't quite get it to work in her head. It didn't make any sense in her head. 'I'll have a talk with Anne later. Maybe she can fingure some things out that I can't, being over there and all.' Satisfied wtih that, Alex went back to her work.  
  
Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, Phlox was giving Anne the tour of the sickbay, telling her what the different plants and animals could do. Anne, the daughter of a naturalistic medical practitioner, suggested alternatives for some of the more difficult to aquire items as well as some new ones to cut back on the usage of some of the medical supplies. "So y'see, if ye use peppermint oil on a headache it goes away. Tis also useful in a tea to calm upset stomachs. Oddly enough, ginger ale and caffeinated beverages do the same thing. Excpet coffee. That just makes it worse." "Really?" Phlox was intrigued. "Not too many doctors think like this." "Tis wha' happens when ye can' really afford most medecines. Especially for headaches. If ye read my medical file, ye'll ken that I suffer from really bad ones. Tyler's worse though. Migraines, they're called." Anne shuddered. "He gets them really badly. No' as often as he used t', but once in a while, he does." "Is that what happened up on the bridge earlier today?" Phlox asked, putting some food in one of the cages. "I heard something about Commander Wolffe being forced off the bridge due to some sort of fit he suffered." Anne shook her head. "No. Tha' was somethin' I'm not permitted to talk about. Kind o' a secret, if ye take my meanin'." "I won't pry then. As long as he has the medical help he needs..." "Which he does." Anne cut him off. "Now, can we get back t' wha' we we're doin'? I prefer no' t' discuss my patients." "As you wish. Now, if you'll follow me, this is how the dermal regenerator works."  
  
Later that day... "You wanted to talk to me Captain?" Trip asked as he walked into the captain's dinning room. T'pol had been asked to be a little late to dinner.  
  
"Yes, I did, Trip. Have a seat." Trip sat down, watching Archer carefully. He had a very odd expression on his face. He could see some concern in it, but that was all he could easily read. "Is something wrong Captain?" "Not really. I just wanted to talk to you. You seemed a bit confused this morning whe you showed up on the bridge. Are you doing alright? You've been acting strange ever since we met up with the crew of the Genesis." "I have?" Trip blinked, confused. "i don't think I have." "I just really noticed today. Malcolm's been acting odd, too, so it's not just you. Granted," Arcer smiled. "I think his problem has more to do wtih a certain blond we had over here more than anything else. You, however, I'm not sure about. It could be envy over Malcolm's night, or somthing else entirely. If you'd care to enlighten me, I'm all ears. If not, I'll respect your privacy, but you do look like you need to talk." Trip slumped forward onto to the table. "I just don't know Captain. One minute everything makes perfect sense and the next I'm all confused again. I'm still confused. Have been all day. If something doesn't happen about it soon I feel like I'm going to go crazy." Archer waited patiently for him to continue, wondering what could have done this to his friend. "Have you ever had a crush on someone that was so completely wrong for you, but you couldn't tell if it was a crush or not?" Archer nodded. "Y'see, Jon, that's the closest thing I can hink of to describe what's going on in my head. I keep feeling this urge to be near this person, but the more I'm near, the more I want to be closer to them. Physicaly and all that other stuff. It scares me so I have to find an excuse to leave that won't be offensive. As soon as I go away, I find that that's where my thoughts constantly return. I have this face, this perfect image burned into the inside of my eyelids. I close them and it's still there. No matter what, I can see that face, hear that voice, almost smell them." "You sound like you're in love more than just infatuated." Archer frowned. "If you feel so strongly about this person, why don't you just tell them how you feel? You're not an unattractive man,Trip. A good deal of the women on this ship would gladly get into a relationship with you if you asked. If this one has a brain in her head, she'd be as flattered as any of our ship's women." Trip laughed bitterly. "That's just it. If I approached them, they'd think I'm some sort of freak." "And why is that?" Archer was really concerned now. "Who is she?" "You've got it all wrong there." Trip shook his head. "It's not love. I don't know what it is, but that's not what it is. Dear lord I hope not." "Who is it? Come on Charles, tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone." "I never doubted that, but don't think any less of me for this." He took a deep breath. "Wolffe, sir." "Anne Wolffe? There's nothing wrong wtih that." "No, not Anne. She's a pretty little thing, but it's not her." "Not Anne?" There weren't that many people named Wolffe around so it mucst be... No, that wasn't right. Was it? "Tyler Wolffe?" Trip nodded glumly. Archer was silent for a long time after that. Trip even looked up at his friend, seeing his thoughtful face. "Tyler. How'd that happen?" "I'm not sure, really. All I know is that the more time I spent with him, the more I learned about him and his wacky friend Alex the more I wanted to learn. I want to get to know hom more, but I'm afraid that he'll find out how I feel and leave." Archer nodded, his head still spinning from Trip's revelation. "It would be best that you just carry on as usual, make friends with him, and go from there. Who knows? Maybe he'll respect how you feel and not leave. From what little I've seen of him, I think he's a fairly open minded individual. He wouldn't have made it that far in Starfleet if he wasn't. We're taught in the academy to respect all races and cultural beliefs." Trip thought about that and then passed on what Alex had told Malcolm erlier on their way up to the bridge. "That's an odd one, but I can see where they'd do it. The family line has to come from somewhere. Especailly in the part of the world he comes from. It's quite possible that he'd accept you and your feelings." "That's also part of the problem, sir. I don't want to find out if these feelings are real or not. I don't want to be a freak." "Listening to your heart is hardly being freakish, Trip." "No, but this is so different. I don't know what to do!" Trip placed his head in his hands and raked his fingers back through is hair. "All my life I've been just a normal guy, falling for pretty girl after pretty girl, but then he shows up and ruins it all." Archer wasn't sure how to offer comfort, so he leaned forward and placed a hand on Trip's shoulder. "The only advice I can offer to you at this point is to just let life go on as it normally would have. Let me ask a few questions though first. First of all, are you attracted that way to any other men, now or ever?" "No." Trip said, a look of releif crossing his face. "Second, what's you oppinion on both Anne and Alex. Of their physical appearance that is." Trip thought for a minute. "Anne is cute, but Alex is just hot. Malcolm's a lucky guy." "So you are still you, just you have odd feelings for one man. One and only one. I don't think that makes you freakish Trip. It sometimes happens to people that they become attracted to a member of the same gender. Most of those people, the ones that I knew, did eventually find a partner of the opposite gender and have a nice, happy life with them, but I only knew a few. It's probably just an exception to some rule, but don't loose heart. You aren't a freak, Trip. Believe that." Trip nodded just as T'pol walked in. Seeing Archer's hand on Trip's shoulder, she raised an eyebrow. "Did I miss something?" she asked.  
  
Malcolm sat by himself at a table facing the window. Luck was with him tonight. The Genesis was flying on that side of the ship. He stared up at the spot on the saucer section where the bridge was located. He poked at his dinner with his fork, occasionally taking a bite or a sip of juice from his glass. He could still feel Alex, taste her, smell her hair. She'd been over on her ship for most of the day and he already missed her. Last night was the best night he'd had in a long time, the first time in years he'd felt that good. Being wtih someone who knew what they were doing might have had something to do wtih it, but they had so many things in common that they got along almost instantly after they started talking. Despite a few oddly placed scars Alex was the most beutiful woman he'd seen since leaving Earth. She'd smelled so good, looked even better wth her hair freed from it's restrictive styling. He sighed, remembering her sleeping form. Her face was almost angelic when sleeping, loosing all of it's mischief. With her hair fanned out on the pillow she'd looked like an angel or a goddess. Untouchable, yet within his reach. Her smooth, silken skin and full lips, her butt long blond hair and black eyes, every curve of her tall, thin body was burned into his mind. He couldn't think of anything else, wasn't overly hungry, either. Not for food, anyways. Giving up on his meal, he went to his cabin and lay down on his bed after taking his boots off. He sniffed the air. Her scent still lingered in here, especially on the pillow and sheets. He lay his head down on the pillow she'd used and inhaled deeply. He was in serious danger of becoming obsessed with this girl, but he didn't really care. Not now. He thought of all the things he could possibly say to her if, when, he saw her again, but nothing sounded right in his mind or when he said them outloud. He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling and sighed. He generally tried tyo keep his distance from women. This one in particular was driving him mad. Just thinking about her did things to him that he'd rather not happen. Not on duty anyway. 'It would help if I had someone to talk to about this' he mused. 'Commander Tucker would understand, but he looks a little bit preocuppied himself. If only I knew how to get a hold of Alex wihtout attracting too much attention. I can't risk Hoshi knowing. I don't think I could take the teasing. I'd rather Captain Archer not know the entirety of the matter either, though I think he knows a bit already. I could disguise it as an armory matter, but that would only work for so long.' He rolled back over onto his stomach, Alex's scent catching him full in the face, making his head spin. 'I really should hjust send her a letter. No one checks the contents of letters. It's an invasion of privacy.' He shook his head. 'I don't want to seem too eager to see her again. It might scare her off. Wouldn't that be counter productive?' He sighed again, now thoughroughly confused. 'If I could just talk to her again. Our ships are going to the same place and I would assume that we'll be working together to some extent.' He relaxed a bit. 'Surely an oppertunity will present itself.' Content with that, Malcolm pulled out the book he'd been reading and settled in for the night. 


	7. Camping Trip (pun intended)

Enterprise 07  
  
The next morning, Trip walked into the mess hall to find Anne sitting by herself, staring off into space. Every once ine a while, she'd put a forkfull of food in her mouth and chew slowly before swallowing, but mostly just staring off. he grabbed his breakfast and walked over to her table. "Mind if I join you, Lieutenant?" he aske dpolitely. She jerked and looked up at him, blushing. "Ah, sorry. Please, have a seat Commander. I 'pologize for staring off like tha'." "Don't worrya bout it. And please, jsut call me Trip. Almost everyone else does around here." She blinked. "Are ye sure 'bout that'?" she aske dshyly. "Ye don' mind?" "Not at all. We're all alone out here, so we might as well get comfortable wtih our fellow crewmembers. Right?" She paused and nodded. "I s'pose so. Things here are diff'rent than they were on the Genesis." "How so?" "Well, for one thing, I kent everyone there. I don' doubt tha' I'll get to know everyone here soon enough, but 'tis no' the same thing. Some fo them, like Tyler, I'd kent all my life. Others, like Alex and Ensign Ryuuyama for years before we were all posted on the Genesis. Secondly, Ye're no' quite as, well, no' quite asclose as we al were. There's something about doin' things like our last misison tha' pull you t'gether like tha'. The only thing tha' I can think of tha' was tha' close would be like a family. yes, tha's is. It was like bein' surrounded by brothers and sisters." "Enterprise hasn't really had too many crises. Nothing really life threatning. Well, except for that giant sticky web thing that almost killed four of us, including myself and Captain Archer." "Really?" she perked up. "I'd love t' hear more about ye're adventures out here." "Only if I can heaer about yours." He smiled only to be surprisedwhen her face fell. "I'm sorry, Commander. I canna talk about tha'. Starfleet command has classified tha'." she stood, leaving her unfinished breakfast, and left the mess hall. Trip watched her go, puzzled. "Was it something I said?" Malcolm bumped into Anne on her way out of the messhall just in front of the turbolift. "Are you all right?" "'Tis nothing, really." "Then why do you look like you're about to fall apart? Did something happen in the messhall?" "No. I told ye. T'was nothin' t' be concerned about. I just didn't sleep well last night. Tha's all." She shoved past him onto the lift. "See you later, Lieutenant." Malcolm frowned at the closing lift doors. Shrugging, he headed into breakfast.  
  
Over on the Genesis, a sleepy Tyler lurched into the messhall. Alex looked up from her table and gestured for him to join her. Tyler's hair was in dissaray and his uniform was looking like it'd been slept in. "You look like hell, Tyler." Alex observed around a mouthful of fruit. "Thank ye for statin' the obvios, Alex." he growled, and then yawned. "Tha's the same thing tha' my mirror told me this mornin' when I got up." "What'd you do, anyways? Fall asleep in your uniform?" "No' intentionally, no." Alex smirked. "I take it that you didn't sleep well either. Aside from the fact that these uniforms are really not comfortable to sleep in." "I remember." Tyler said, wincing. "At least I had my own bunk to sleep on this time." "Dream at all?" "No." His reply came a little too quickly, indicating that he had dreamed, but didn't want to talk about it. "All right then." Alex swallowed the last of her juice and stood. "Listen, I need to recalibrate the targetting scaners. If you aren't too busy running tests down in engineering, I coudl use your help with it." He nodded. "If I have time. I promised 'o help Crewman Howard with some maintenance on C deck. A power conduit blew this morning an' they haven' gotten around to it yet. Luckily, 'twasn't a vital one, so leaving it until my duty shift wasn't a hardship." "Crewman Howard? Isn't that the one you were complaining about during our last mission?" "Yeah. He seems t' have matured consid'rably since then. Thankfully. I need ev'ry hand I can." Alex sighed and looked Tyler in the eye. "Do yourself a favor and eat something beofre your shift starts. You'll need it." Tyler watched his best friend walk out of the messhall and picked up an uneaten piece of apple from her plate. He munched absentmindedly, looking out at the Enterprise. He shuddered, remembering the dream he'd had last night. His head sunk to the table. It wasn't that the dream was a bad one. He'd wanted to stay in it forever, but knew that what he'd dreamed could never be possible. "True happiness doesna exist anyways." he mumbled into the tabletop and stood up, ignoring the looks he was getting from the crew in the room. He made a token effort to straighten his uniform and ran a hand through his hair on the way to the turbolift. Yawning, he told it to go to engineering. Once there, his engineers greeted him politely, ignoring his disheveled appearance, and returned to their tasks. "Crewman Howard?" Tyler called out. "You still here?" A non-descript brown haired man in his early 20s stood up from behinda console. "Yes sir." "Good. Let's get t' work on tha' conduit. The sooner 'tis done, the better I'll feel." "Sir?" he asked, puzzled. "I jus' need somethin' t' do, tha's all." "Ah. I see sir. Shall we?"  
  
An hour and a half later and a lot of bruises later, the conduit was repaired and the lights in that part of C deck were workign properly again. Tyler wiped some sweat from his forehead and backed out. "There. Tha' should do it." "That didn't take as long as I thought it would." "By yerself, it would have take ye longer, but ye weren'." Tyler managed a smile. "Left to myself, it would have taken me all day. No' for a lack o' skill, jus' for somethin' t' do. Y'ken?" "Aye sir. I understand. It's frustrating to be sitting around after our last mission. " He patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Maybe if you put your head together wtih Commander Tucker over on the Enterprise and find some way to boost engine efficiency?" Tyler's stomach lurched. "Tha'll be all, Crewman. Return to engineering and help Ensign Lockley with the plasma injectors." He looked mildly confused, but obeyed the order nonetheles. Tyler banged his fist into the wall above the conduit. "Why can' people stop doing tha'?" he moaned. "All I want is t' avoid him an' they insit on placin' us t'gether. I can' take much more o' this!" He straightened up. "There has t' be a way t' stop this. I don' want t' feel like this anymore!" The comm beside him beeped. "Bridge to Commander Wolffe." He sighed and pushed the button. "Wolffe here." "We recieved a transmission from Enterprise just a few moments ago. It seems that this system has a previously unknown Minshara class planet."Captain Kyle's voice said. "Captain archer has invited yourself and Lieutenant Remscheid to join them in exploring it." "Ye ken my feelin's Cap'n, so why are ye askin' me?" "Because they have an extensive cave system and lots of hilled areas." she paused. "I kow how much you miss the caves and hills of your home, Tyler. As you didn't get to see any oneither shore leave or our last mission, I figured I should give you this oppertunity. Youy never know when it might happen again. So, what do you say, Wolf? Is it worth putting up with the Enterprise crew for a few days? Anda ren't you always telling me that you're an engineer and not a geologist?" Tyler smiled, remembering her remarks about having to collect samples of rock on htheir last mission. "Curse ye." Tyler snarled good humouredly. "Ye ken me too well. All right, all right. I'll go. When do we leave?" "As Commander Tucker and Ensign Mayweather have a fondness for camping, they're leaving tonight. Somethigna bout making up for a not so good shore leave. Should either you or Alex wish to join them, you're free to. I beleive that Ensign Sato and Anne will be joining them as well as Lieutenant Reed." "Thank ye. I have a few things to do in engineering first though." "Don't rush it. I want you down there tomorrow morning at the latest though." "Aye aye Cap'n."  
  
Trip sat down across from Malcolm in the mess hall a few hours after Captain Archer made the invitation to Genesis. "So? Do you think they'll come?" Malcolm rolled his eyes. "I on't know about Alex, but if I know Irishmen, they love their hills. I also talked to Anne about it after we found the planet. She mentioned that Tyler enjoys being outdoors. Things like camping and hiking are favorite activities of his. She also mentioned a fascination with caves. If we get there early enough, it might be possible to find a suitable one that you can show him." Trip's blue eyes lit up. "All i want is a chance to talk to him, to sort things out." "Do you think he knows?" "I doubt it, but I need to get my head on straight, and to do that, I need to talk to him. Alone preferably." He nodded. "I'll do my best. If I get lost, don't worry. I need to have a similar talk with Alex." Trip smiled. "One night and already you can't live without her." "Don't laugh Commander. After all of the failed relationships I've had, I'd do just about anything to be able to have a stable one." "Do you two even have anything in common?" Anne sat down between them. "Aye, they do. I won' make a list, as t'would take fore're. But ye two are as much a pair as two peas in one pod." she shook her head. "I've only kent ye a few days now, Lieutenant Reed, and i've kent Alex many years longer, but I can tell ye this. Ye'll either kill each other orget laong famously. there is no middle ground." Anne tossed back the last of her mug of cofffee and left the table. "Did that strike you as being just a little odd, Malcolm?" He nodded. "Was she listening to our conversation do you think?" "I hope not. She might warn Alex and Tyler, as she's coming with us on the away mission." "Yet I don't think she's interfeer. She seems the reasonable type. If she looks like she'll interrupt wither of us, we'll explain to her what's going on, but only then." "That sounds reasonable. Lets get our gear together and go pick out a good cave for you."  
  
In the end, it was Travis who picked out the perfect cave. There was a small waterfall at the back of it and it was somehow nice and warm. No wind got into the back of the cave and there was a natural chimney to take out the smoke of a fire if one were to be built inside. Trip made a note of its location before they left the area and headed for the hills where camp would be made up. Hoshi and Anne were there already wtih the tents, most of which were set up. A firepit was set up in the center of the tent circle. there was a space left for Alex and Tyler's tent. Anne would be bunking with Hoshi to get to know her better. Alex and Tyler, as they'd known each other for a fair amount of time had no problem wtih sharing a tent, a fact that Trip and Mlcolm both hoped to remedy by the end of their mission. They were sharing a tent. They knew it was somehow wronmg to mix work with personal matters, but with the other two on another ship and every excuse in the worlod to stay there, this would likely be the only chance they'd get to get them alone in a situation they couldn't run away from. Travis shared one with the spare supplies to keep them dry. They had a good fire going and a meal cooking over it by the time a shuttlepod was spotted coming down nearby. The markings on it indicated that it was from the Genesis. "Let the fun begin." Trip said to Malcolm as the girls went to go greet them. 


	8. Kidnapped

Enterprise 08  
  
Alex and Tyler set up their tent. For some reason, they were right beside Trip and Malcolm's tent. They looked at the blue fabric of the tent apprehensivley. There was something very odd about that. Or was it just coincidence that on their ther side was Hoshi and Anne's tent, forcing them to take that last spot around the fire? The way Tyler's life was going lately, he opted for the not-coincidence option. Dinner smelled wonderful, making stomachs growl and mouths water impatiently. Anne was in charge of dinner and threatened to beat anyone trying to swipe an early mouthful with a very large stick. She shot a meaningful glance at Tyler, who bowed his head sheepishly. "So, Alex, what was that odd shaped thing you were carrying earlier?" Malcolm asked conversationally. In repsonse, she went into the tenst and came back out wtih an acoustic guitar. "What, you mean this?" She sat down and placed it across her lap, strumming a few experimental chords. "I didn't know you played." "There's a lot abou' Alex tha' ye don' ken." Tyler sid sagely, nodding. "A lot about you that we don't know wither, Commander." Malcolm replied. He pointedly ignored it and turned back to Alex. "Play us a tune, there, Alex." "And what exaclty would you want me to play?" He shrugged. "I don' ken. Jus' something simple." Alex thought about that for a moment and began to play. After a minute, she bean to sing.  
  
Told myself for a long time don't go there you will only be sorry Told myself so many times I just had to take a look in those faraway eyes..  
  
In them I saw a longing for something Maybe I couldn't give you Said it's all in my mind "It ain't nothing"  
  
Don't say that Don't say that darling no Don't say anything at all Because I've seen it now Can't pretend anymore "It ain't nothing"  
  
*Chorus* Do you know what I mean? And have you seen it too? Do you know what I mean? Do you know? And I'll do anything just tell me what it means Cause I can't live in doubt anymore Do we try or should we just say goodbye  
  
If you'd rather be somewhere that's not here then you just gotta tell me Cause there's so much more to life, than pretending  
  
Don't you know Don't you know darling for you I'd do anything at all I wanna be with you but that look in your eyes tells me something  
  
*Chorus repeat*  
  
I wanna know can you tell me I wanna know will you tell me is it hello is it good bye  
  
I gotta know won't you tell me I gotta know you can tell me is it hello or just goodbye  
  
I gotta know can you tell me I gotta know will you tell me is it hello is it goodbye  
  
I gotta know won't you tell me I gotta know You can tell me is it hello is it goodbye  
  
There was silence for a few minutes after she'd finished before anyone managed to say anyhting. It was Malcolm who recovered his voice first. "That was absolutely wonderful, Alex." He smiled warmly at her. "I've never heard anyone sing so beutifully before." "You should ask Captain Kyle to sing then. I sound like a dying crow in comparison. Tyler sounds better than I do anyways." "You sing Tyler?" Trip asked, startled. He shook his head. "No' any more. Don' e'en think o' askin' me t' do so. I might have t' hurt ye if ye do." He nodded, mind racing. 'These two get stranger and stranger the more I learn about them. There's something there that isn't right and I can't put my thumb on it. I wish I could figure him out. It's starting to drive me crazy.' he thought to himself. Outloud, he said, "Earlier, we saw some really gret caves, and Anne tells me that you like to explore caves. If you like, I could show you the one I'm surveying tomorrow when I go back." Tyler looked at him, his expression unreadable. His eyes narrowed suspiciously, but curiosity got the better of him. "I'd like tha'. Thank ye Trip. Tha' was nice o' ye t' offer." Trip relaxed slightly and applied himself to the bowl of stew that Anne handed him. Malcolm shot him a congratulatory look when no one was looking. Now if Malcolm coudl find a reason to get Alex aside, he'd be a lot happier, too. After dinner was cleaned up, Alex picked up the guitar and played a few tunes, but didn't sing again. For a few songs, Anne sang wtih her, but for the most part it was just unacompanied guitar. Malcolm sat and stared at her hands, watching teh firelight glint of the strings. He blinked. He'd never noticed the silver ring on her ring finger. It was a plain silver band wtih an oval pieve of obsidian set into it. He hadn't noticed it on that night they'd spent together. 'Ah.' He thought. 'maybe she isn't allowed to wear it on duty.' He frowned. 'So what does this mean? If she was involved wtih someone, I think she would have said something.' He mentioned his observation to Trip later that night in their tent. He just shrugged, saying it was probably nothing to worry about. If had meant anything like that, she probably would have said something about it. Malcolm nodded and curled up in his sleeping bag.  
  
Tyler and alex were up and in uniform before Trip and malcolm were. Tyler was crouched beside the fire, pokinga t something in a frying pan. From the smell, it was bacon. "Smells good, there, Tyler." Trip said, sniffing appreciatively. "I didn't know that you could cook." "I canna." he said simply. "I doesna take a genius t' make bacon though." Malcolm laughed. "That's a good point, but don't let chefd hear you say that. He's quite proud of his bacon." Tyler looked a bit puzzled, but continued to poke at it. On the other side, Anne was scrambling some eggs to go wtih the stack of toast on a plate beside her and the bacon Tyler was making. When they were done, Anne served breakfast, appologizing that the toast had to be eaten plain. No one said anything about it, content to just be able to eat something in the morning. "So, Trip, when were ye plannin' on headin' out t' these caves o' yers?" Tyler asked, nibbling on his toast. "As soon as possible. I don't like leaving engineering alone for too long, so the sooner it gets done the better off I am. Is after breakfast ok?" He nodded. "Sounds good t' me. Jus' let me grab my tricorder before we leave." "What's everyone else up to today?" Malcolm asked. "The captain asked me to have a look around for any lifeforms. Our scanners didn't detect anything, but that doesn't man that there coudln't be a sub terranean race living here. We had trouble scanning below the surface." "Did he also tell you to keep an eye out for any flowers that mihgt have hallucinogens in their pollen?" Trip asked, remembering the last time he'd been on a world like this. "Tha's my job." Anne said. "Being the doctor here, I'd think tha' I'm a good deal more qualified to identify things like tha'. No offense to ye're skills, Lieutenant, but tha's the truth o' the matter." "None taken." "Hoshi? Travis? What are your plans?" Alex asked. "I'm going to explore that other caves we found." Travis said. "Mine are the same as Malcolm's. Look for new lifeforms and possibly make contact with any that I find." She made a face. "Well. I guess I'm not going with you then. Anne bores me to tears when she gets into her medical stuff, so I guess I'll just guard the campsite." "Or you coudl come wtih me." Malcolm offered hoepfully. "Thanks, but no thanks, Lieutenant. I really should brush up on my hand to hand techniques anyways. It's been a while since I've had an open space this large to practrice in." "And becasue 'tis grass and soft earth under ye, ye won' bruise as much as ye do on the Genesis." Tyler said, grey eyes full of mischief. "Most of the major ones were caused by sparing wtih you, remember?" "Me? I canna believe ye'd say that o' me." Tyler said, faking wide eyed innocence. "I'd ne'er hurt a fly." "Sure ye would. If that fly was in ye're way." Anne told her. Tyler stuck his tongue out at her and the three laughed at some private joke. "Well, we should be off then." Trip said, standing up. "Thansk for breakfast. I forgot how god outdoor cooking can be." Anne nodded and took his plaet from him. "Since ye're staying behind, Alex, ye coud tidy up before ye get t' practicing." Alex sighed, but agreed anyways. Soon afterwards, everyone went off their own ways.  
  
"So how much farther t' these caves ye found?" "Just over these hills." Trip paused to rearange his pack of supplies. "So tell me about yourself, Tyler." "Like wha'?" "What kind of things do you likt to do? What's your family like? I heard that you like caves and have a twin, but I don't know much else." He paused. "I also herad some really odd rumour about you." "Wouldna be the first time." Tyler growled. "Which one was it this time?" Trip passed on to her what Malcolm had told him. "He says that Alex told him that." "Aye. I'll believe tha'. Jus' t' let ye ken, 'tis entirely false. She tells that t' people t' keep them away from me. Anne and most of the bridge crew will tell ye the same thing." He paused, turning away from Trip. "I like my privacy. If people are truly interested in gettin' t' ken me, they can damn well come and ask me themselves instead of going the roundabout way. It really annoys me." "Ah. I see. So I'm doing this the right way." "No' really. Ye did find that out through Lieutenant Reed." "He told me. I didn't ask him about it." Tyler relaxed a bit. "Good. I also figured tha' if people hear tha' story, they won' be able t' figure me out, won' come near me. I'll be honest wi' ye Trip. There are things about me tha' most people would rather no' ken and I'd like t' keep it tha' way." "You do know you can tell me aything, right?" Trip asked him. "Anything. I won't judge you. I promise." Tyler laughed. The sound was more bitter than anything else. "I thank ye, but ye don' want t' ken more about me than the utmost basics. I promise ye that much." He pasued. "My life isna really tha' interesting. I do have a twin. A sister, younger than me. I have one older brother, married now with two children. My family constantly gets after me to find a partner and start my own family." "Just haven't found the right person yet?" He shook his head sadly. "No, and 'tis looking like tha' person doesna exist outside of my deams." he sighed. "No use worryin' about it though. If it doesna happen, it doesna happen. I won' worry about it." "And if you do meet that someone? What then? Will you give up Starfleet?" "I'll worry about that if it happens but no' a moment before. I'd rather work on the ship than spend my time worryinga bout something that' might ne'er happen." "A sound philosophy." Trip pointed up ahead. "That's the cave I found the other day." "Looks like a regular cave t' me." "From the outside, yes, but it's different on the inside." They turned on their flashlights and went inside. The floor was covered by a fine sand, to rock wall warm to the touch. Trip led Tyler to the end of the cave where the wterfall was and instructed him to turn off the flashlight. Tyler narrowed his eyes supiciously, but turned it off anyways. It was dark for a few moments until the waterfall began to glow softly. Tyler sat down beside it, whistling appreciatively. "This is one o' the most beutiful things I have e're seen! I love waterfalls. They're so peaceful." "I've seen prettier things than this, but the prettiest thing i've ever seen doesn't like complements or having attention drawn to them, so I'm stuck with praising this waterfall for it's beauty." "Oh come now Trip." Tyler scolded. "Ye're a wonderful person. What kind o' idiot would refuse praise from ye?" "You'd be surprised. I don't have much luck with relationships." "Neither do I." He paused. "I'm wonderful?" "I like ye. Ye're always nice t' me e'en though ye've only kent me a short time now. Ye're thoughtful, kenning that I'd like t' see this and invitin' me t' come wi' ye. Any woman wouild be happy wi' ye." "You think so?" He asked and Tyler nodded. "And therein lies my problem. I haven't found a woman that I'm interested in yet." "I see." There was a long silence before Trip pulled out his tricorder to scan the area. he wandered around for a while, eventually leaving teh area. Tyler drew his knees up to his chest and lowered his chin down to rest on them. 'I'm such an idiot. There's no way tha' this could work. He doesna ken about me and I canna bring myself t' tell him. He might think tha' I'm a freak o' the worst kind if he e'er found out. Why am I doin' this t' myself? I could be out doin' something yet I sit here waitin' for him t' come back. Tha's it. I'm going t' go now. I'll appologize t' him later.'  
  
Trip wandered around, not really looking at the readings his tricorder was taking. He was toio busy mentally hitting himself over the head for his stupidity. He could have handled that much better than he had. He had the chance to tell tyler how h felt and he'd botched it so badly he wouldn't blame him if he never talked to him again becasue of it. He crouched down, leaning his head on a wall, reisting the urge to bang his head against it. He sat there for a while, trying to figure out ho to fix this situation. Before he could come up with a plausable solution, he was disrtacted by a scream of pain from just outside the cave. He stodd and ran as fast as he could towards it, noting that Tyler wasn't at the waterfall. Maybe he was already outside? When he got there, he found out how true that was. "Silik." Trip said, his voice ful of venom. "Let Tyler go!" The Suliban had Tyler's arms pinned behind his back and a knife at his throat. "Ah. Commander Tucker. So good to see you again." "Let him go Silik. i'm warning you." "Him?" Silik looked momentarily confused. "Ah. You're refering no doubt to my little prisoner. You are quite mistake about his identity it seems. It was amusing, you know. Watching you attempting to talk to him. It's rather hard to talk to someone who doesn't really exist, you know." "What?" "Tell Captain Kyle that Commander Wolffe is now in the possesion of the Kabal and tht she shoudln't expect to ever have her chief engineer back." Laughing, he entered a ship that uncloaked behind him. Once he was onboard, the ship took off and recloaked. Anne, Hoshi, and Alex came running up moments after it had taken off to find Trip on his knees in the sand in front of the cave staring upwards wtih a look of pain on his face. "What happened?" Alex demanded. "We heard a scream and came to investigate." she looked around. "Where's Tyler?" "Gone." he whispered. "He's gone and it's all my fault." "Commander, ye have t' tell su wha' happened here. Where did Tyler go? Why are ye blamin' yerself like tha'?" "We'd best get back to camp so that I don't have to repeat this to Malcolm and Travis." Once back at camp, Malcolm and Travis weren't long in returning. Malcolm looked alarmed that Tyler wasn't with them. Trip sat down on a log and told them everything from his feelings all the way to the set up he and Malcolm had planned, including the plot for Malcolm to get Alex alone wtih him. Alex gazed at Malcolm contemplatively for a moment, then returned her attention to Trip. He told them about Silik taking him away. Everything rushed out and before he knew it there were tears streaming down his face. Anne looked at him, sorrow in her eyes. "Ye really do love Tyler don' ye?" He nodded. "Silik was right, ye ken. Tyler doesna exist." "Are you telling me that we've all hallucinated him?" "No. I canna tel ye anythin' down here. I have t' get to the Genesis and talk t' Cap'n Kyle. She needs t' learn wha' happened here." Alex nodded soberly. "This is too important to leave. If we loose Wolffe again, things could get very bad."  
  
  
  
Note: The song Alex sings in this part is called Vector and is performed by Maaya Sakamoto. I can send you the song if you don't have a file sharing program should you wish to hear it. It's really quite pretty. 


End file.
